3000M - upgrading to modern spec

[vejnoe]

A brief update on my M project. Car was bought from a nice chap in Uttoxeter last summer, quite some miles but have allways been taken good care of. I had some plesant time with it last summer, doing around 1000 miles. But you could feel the age and the miles it had done. And from beeing involved in quite some rebuild projects of Triumphs's and Jag's was the decision quite easy.

Why not catch up on the last 35 years and replace the non TVR bits from Triumph and Ford with some bits from BMW and Jaguar, and make a sub 5 sec car with 800 kg and 270 bhp (I have a Rotrex supercharger in stock if it ain't enought :-)

Body of on 1 oct


Chassis had som aditional 10m of tubing + new front suspension design with BMW E46 uprights and brakes


Rear end narrowed a bit + converted to accomodate VW calipers, bmw E39 bearings, E60 ARB adjustable and E36 disc's + a M3 LSD



Engine is replaced with Jaguar S 3.0 V6 engine and gearbox, exhaust. prop shaft, driveshaft etc. is home made




And this is the classic TVR rebuild shot's







Still a bit work left, Body will soon go back on, electrics TBD, VEMS ECU and intake plenum manufacturing. Plan is to get her rolling in mid may

BR Mads

Edited by vejnoe on Tuesday 2nd April 22:23

Edited by vejnoe on Tuesday 2nd April 22:29

[madsvlund]

griff 200 said:

I was thinking of using that engine in my 3000 m rebuild but thought it was to wide and after putting a v6 cosworth in my s3 and finding that making the exhaust manifolds was by far the worst part chose a different engine. But very well done its nice to see someone thinking out side of the box when rebuilding old tvr,s. on the inlet manifold frount, have you thought of the 2.5 v6 one as its very tidy still makes good power ,it's been used in a lotus v6 convershion and looks great . home made inlet manifolds are a black art in making power tourqe etc? But good luck and keep up the good work. Richard

Hi Richard

I have a mondeo 2.5 in stock, and did plan to use the manifold. But the issue is that the throttle body is on the rear end of the engine, and I tried to rotate the manifold 180 degrees, but it will interfer with the valve covers. Solution can be to make a 30mm spacerplate between the lower and upper manifold parts + cut and weld a bit in the manifold. But after all that will be the same work as costructing a complete new "aston martin" style plenum (I found a second hand aston plenum for the v12, but that was 800£)

[madsvlund]

Thanks guys, a few comments

- The garage was build by me 4 years ago, and have heated floor wich is perfect for the danish winter
- The Jag engine is 1 inch more narrow than the original Essex engine as well as 2 inches shorter, so absolutely no pain making room for it. Major topic was to find room for the alternator (it interfer with the frame)
- The engine and gearbox was 600£ everything else 6000£, but don't tell my wife :-)

Br Mads

[madsvlund]

A picture of the body on the car prior to painting, just to verify clearance for the rims

[madsvlund]

Hi

Wheels are ACT (bmw M5 anno 1985), I've bought a selection of 9,5" - 8,5" and 7,5" (last one from opel senator), and bu narrowing the rear suspension mounts by 1" do they just clear the inner fender by 1/2" and no problems on the outside. Currently mounted with 245/16 on the rear and 225/16 (8,5") front.

Camber adjuster to -1/2 deg front and rear.



Btw. after 50 hours of work with the cables do this go out....



This goes in....



And finally look like this...




.... never underestimate the power of the dark side (...of Lucas)

[madsvlund]

Modification is needed, but perhaps the new style manifold from the x type can be an plug and play option, it will make the throttle body point toward the cabin (where there are more headroom under the bonnet), and with a 180 deg bend it could be possible.
It's this way that morgan have fittet a X type V6 to the the cars they make.

Another option with a very low and backward facing throttle, is to use the plenim from a 2.5 mondeo, that's very low and will fit under the bonnet with ease. Only problem is that the mondeo plenum is quite restrictive (thus 170hp in the mondeo and 210 in the 2.5 Jag version)

[madsvlund]

Sure the 3.7 is a sweet engine, but it dont fit parts with the mazda/ford/jaguar versions of the engine.

It's correct that the x type is in a normal front drive setup, like the mondeo variants. And therefore have the throttlebody (and water pump) mounted on top of the gearbox. The S type is the only version with a normal rwd setup, and a few made with manual gearbox, that suit the TVR frame very well.

On the intake side, are there some small variations between the various versions, but all share the same spacing between the tuber, and thus are interchangeable. A very good thing in the design is that the manifold is split in 2 parts, with an upper and lower part. The injectors and fuel rail is placed in the lower part, so actually you can make a very simple "upper part" that can fit under the bonnet.

Lower part is looking like this:
http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/attachments/s-ty...

And you could make a simple upper version from square steel tube, which will flow equally to the mondeo version (which is quite bad)

Mounting the engine is quite straight forward, only interference is the alternator, but if you don't need the servo pump, can you relocate the alternator to the left side of the engine where there are plenty of space.

And if you require more than 240 hp (which is enough for 60 mph wheelspin in 3'th gear on damp morning roads) do piper cams or Motune a camset for the engine that will take it to 270-300 hp depending on plenums. And Motune can take it close to 380hp if money is not a question :-)

For the ECU side are there many options, but I will be deficult to reuse the original setup, but VEMS-DTA-etc make solutions from 500£.

Edited by madsvlund on Friday 25th April 18:48

[madsvlund]

Hi Guys, the "supercharger" whine is from the alternator, it's working, but will be changed together with the engine this winter.

On the "to-do" list for this winter:
- brand new engine with race cams, 8 lbs flywheel and dual 7.25 inch clutch.
- rebuild the drive shafts and LSD mounts after all of was bade to metal scrap in the last race
- remove the brake servo, and make a dual master setup
- make mounts and add 4pot front calipers and change the rear slaves for larger dia.
- mod. the steering column with an 1:1.5 gear to make the steering faster
- refurb the cabin with suede and new carpets
- make 2 new front upper wishbones to allow for increased camber and wider front rims
- find some bbs 17" rims and super soft tyres

That should make the 1,5 sec / min I'm missing to the 911's - specially new carpets will cut lap times :-)

[madsvlund]

Hmm, unanswered question, the "over" modifyed dutch M, have resently been sold in denmark for +25k£ ex road tax

And from my expirience do a well maintained modityed car (specially if it's FIA approved) keep it's value very well. But yes it's expensive to build a modified car, often double cost of restoring a car to original spec. But w.t.h as long as we enjoy building, driving and discussing them life is wortk living :-)